Billionaires

During an early appearance in the London case, Akhmedov’s lawyers produced “official” documents confirming the Russian divorce. But in his London ruling, Judge Charles Haddon-Cave suggested that the Moscow documents “were, at all material times, forged.” He awarded Akhmedova 41 percent of the billionaire’s wealth,Pictured: The MV Luna: Akhmedov’s YachtPhotographer: Mustafa Ciftci/Anadolu Agency/Getty Images
A Russian billionaire fighting one of the largest divorce payouts in U.K. history lost a Moscow court case where he was trying to prove that his marriage had been dissolved 16 years earlier.
Farkhad Akhmedov was ordered to pay his wife Tatiana Akhmedova more than 450 million pounds ($586 million) following a London trial that he refused to participate in on the grounds that he was already divorced in Russia. Now the Moscow City Court has rejected an appeal by the businessman seeking to prove the existence of that divorce.
The possibility of a prior divorce has hung over the dispute between Akhmedov and his wife, who has been attempting to seize the billionaire’s 115-meter (380-foot) luxury yacht to enforce the payout. The $492 million ship — the MV Luna — is currently impounded in Dubai.